Israeli pharma company, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced a restructuring of its original plans which will include laying off almost 14,000 of its workforce around the globe.

The company, which is toted to be the largest generic medicine maker in the world, has also announced its decision to suspend dividend payouts to shareholders. It stated that these cuts will allow it to make cuts of close to $3 billion over the next two years.

The announcement comes on the heels of news that Teva is over $35 billion in debt on account of a recent acquisition. The acquisition combined with a rise in global competition has left the company with no choice but to restructure.

As such, the company has admitted it needs to lay off almost 25% of its workforce from around the globe.

Speaking on the issue, Teva’s new CEO, Kare Schultz stated that at this point in time, savings were “crucial”.

Schultz announced a new two-year plan which could help the company tide the impending storm. Thus, budget cuts will soon become a regularized part of Teva’s existence.

Israel’s Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has announced a restructuring plan that will see it cut 14,000 jobs worldwide, or 25% of its total workforce.

The move is sure to come as a deep shock to the company’s workers who have thus far been spared any major economic turmoil.

The news will also have an impact on Israel itself since the company plans to cut almost 6,400 Israeli staff members which is sure to have its consequences on the economy.

Just last month, Teva was forced to cut its profit forecast for 2017 for the third time in the year.

Consequently, the company’s share price dropped for the first time in close to two decades.

Patricia Kellogg is a journalist who has held many editorial roles at numerous high-profile publishers – both offline as well as online. She has an experience of more than 10 years in editing and proofreading articles across a range of sectors. She is also well versed with handling academic journal articles, theses, technical manuals, press releases, reports, feature articles, web site content, promotional material, policy papers, and grant proposals.